An extradition request to bring back former liquor baron Vijay Mallya from the United Kingdom through a Special Court in Mumbai, was initiated by CBI today. Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) court, allegedly owes thousands of crores of rupees in loans to various Indian banks. The ED wants Mallya to join its investigation "in person" in connection with probe under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA), and in cases related to a Rs 900-crore loan from IDBI Bank. Mallya had left the country on March 2 and has not returned ever since, they said. Recently, the bank had sent the loan amount in its ‘write-off’ list which kicked-off a controversy. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asked Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha not to go by the literal meaning of write-off. “So there is a little bit of malapropism involved in this. Don’t go by literal meaning write-off. Write-off does not mean loan waiver. Loan still remains. You still continue to pursue,” Jaitley had said.
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